My Secrets In The Apocalypse

Chapter 15

Riley woke up feeling refreshed. She couldn't remember ever being so happy with her life, and it only took the end of the world to make it happen. She couldn't help but laugh at that.

Rolling out of her sleeping bag she pulled on her clothes and her boots tying them quickly. She took a new hair tie from her duffle bag and pulled her hair up in a bun, slipped her hatchet into her belt, and made her way outside.
Everyone was quietly settling around the campfire with their breakfast. Riley grabbed a plate and stood off to the side since all of the chairs were taken. Things were uncomfortably quiet, everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

Glenn suddenly stood up looking nervously toward Dale before clearing his throat.
"Um guys?" he said catching everyone's attention. "The barn's full of walkers," he said quickly.

Everyone was instantly on their feet and making their way to the barn. Riley noticed Glenn look back at the house quickly at a very pissed off Maggie as they followed the group. Shane was looking into the barn through a crack in the wall, quickly jumping back and turning on Rick furiously.
"You can't say you're ok with this!" Shane gestured to the barn angrily.
"You know I'm not!" Rick said "But we're guests here! This isn't our land."
"This is our lives, man!" Shane exclaimed.
"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea said.
"You're right," Shane said looking at Andrea then back to Rick. "Not anymore. We gotta go in there. We gotta make things right, or we just gotta go. We've been talkin' about Fort Benning for a long time."
"We can't just go," Rick interrupted.
"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked in exasperation.
"Because my daughter's still out there," Carol said gesturing towards the woods.
"I think it's time for us to consider the other possibilities," Shane said to Carol rudely.
"Would you just stop!" Riley snapped. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"We're close to findin' this girl," Daryl jumped in defensively. "I just found her damn doll a couple days ago!"
"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll," Shane exclaimed.
"Ya don't know what the hell yer talkin' bout!" Daryl snapped.
"I'm just saying what needs to be said!" Shane yelled moving closer to Daryl.
"Your acting like an ass, that's what you're doing!" Riley said angrily.
Shane turned quickly to look at her with a scowl. "You stay out of this!" he said pointing his finger at her "You're lucky you're even still here!"
"Excuse me?" she said putting her hands on her hips angrily.
Shane ignored her and turned his attention back to Daryl. "Let me tell you something, man. If she were alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife and your geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!"
Shane and Daryl were instantly yelling and swinging at each other as everyone rushed over to pull them apart. As soon as there was enough space between the two men Riley took advantage of her small stature and slipped between them, pushing Shane back some so that they could pull him away from Daryl. She then turned to Daryl and moved him back a few steps so he and Shane couldn't reach each other. She turned around still standing in front of Daryl, ignoring his angry growl coming from behind her.
Shane was yelling at Rick again but Riley had stopped paying attention to him. He was acting erratic and it looked like he was itching for a fight. She was still standing directly in front of Daryl, she could feel the anger coming off of him in waves and she wasn't sure if it was directed at her or Shane.

Rick had managed to convince everyone to let him talk to Herschel before taking any action, and everyone was starting to disperse. Riley turned back to Daryl, noticing the scowl he was shooting at Shane. He turned his attention to her still looking less pissed but still pretty upset. He looked her over for a minute, reached over and gently pulled the hair tie from her hair, stuffed it in his pocket, then turned around and walked away. Riley sighed and combed her hair out of her face with her fingers as she watched him walk away. Looked like she would have to keep her hair down right now, for the sake of her hair ties.